NeuralVis: Visualizing and Interpreting Deep Learning Models

Xufan Zhang, Ziyue Yin, Yang Feng, Qingkai Shi, Jia Liu, Zhenyu Chen

Abstract: Deep Neural Network(DNN) techniques have been prevalent in software engineering. They are employed to facilitate various software engineering tasks and embedded into many software applications. However, because DNNs are built upon a rich data-driven programming paradigm that employs plenty of labeled data to train a set of neurons to construct the internal system logic, analyzing and understanding their behaviors becomes a difficult task for software engineers. In this paper, we present an instance-based visualization tool for DNN, namely NeuralVis, to support software engineers in visualizing and interpreting deep learning models. NeuralVis is designed for: 1). visualizing the structure of DNN models, i.e., neurons, layers, as well as connections; 2). visualizing the data transformation process; 3). integrating existing adversarial attack algorithms for test input generation; 4). comparing intermediate layers' outputs of different inputs. To demonstrate the effectiveness of NeuralVis, we design a task-based user study involving ten participants on two classic DNN models, i.e., LeNet and VGG-12. The result shows NeuralVis can assist engineers in identifying critical features that determine the prediction results. Video: https://youtu.be/solkJri4Z44